Business failures - France - 2024-12
Published on the 17th of January 2025
At the end of December, the year-on-year rise in the number of corporate bankruptcies continues to slow down
- At the end of December 2024, the cumulative number over twelve months of corporate bankruptcies (provisional data) stood at 65,764, compared with 65,298 at the end of November (see graph 1).
- This increase is partly due to a catch-up effect, following the sharp slowdown in insolvencies during the covid period (2020-2021).
- In December, however, the year-on-year rise in insolvencies was lower than in November (16.8% vs. 18.8% in November) across all sectors and most company sizes (see tables A, B and graph 2). The number of corporate bankruptcies among intermediate-sized enterprises (ISEs) and large companies has stabilized, but remains higher than its pre-pandemic average.
- The public services and those of the Banque de France are mobilized to help companies in difficulty.
To find out more: data on business start-ups are reported by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE): Business births on the INSEE's website
A - Corporate bankruptcies by sector![]()
Bankruptcies in number of legal units, year on year change (%)
| Aggregate over previous 12 months (a) (raw data) | ||||||||
| Mean 2010-2019 | Nov. 24 | Nov. 24/Nov. 23 | Nov. 24/2010-2019 | Dec. 23 | Dec. 24 prov. | Dec. 24/Dec. 23 | Dec. 24/2010-2019 | |
| Business sector | ||||||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing (AZ) | 1,359 | 1,454 | 16.0% | 7.0% | 1,308 | 1,386 | 6.0% | 2.0% |
| Industry (BE) | 4,442 | 4,237 | 8.9% | -4.6% | 3,934 | 4,249 | 8.0% | -4.3% |
| Construction (FZ) | 14,684 | 14,433 | 25.8% | -1.7% | 11,816 | 14,743 | 24.8% | 0.4% |
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) | 13,071 | 13,726 | 16.1% | 5.0% | 12,073 | 13,790 | 14.2% | 5.5% |
| Transportation and storage (H) | 1,901 | 2,953 | 34.2% | 55.3% | 2,287 | 2,989 | 30.7% | 57.2% |
| Accommodation and food service activities (I) | 7,374 | 8,503 | 11.0% | 15.3% | 7,819 | 8,557 | 9.4% | 16.0% |
| Information and communication (JZ) | 1,480 | 1,955 | 16.5% | 32.1% | 1,720 | 1,991 | 15.8% | 34.5% |
| Financial and insurance activities (KZ) | 1,150 | 1,683 | 31.2% | 46.3% | 1,330 | 1,688 | 26.9% | 46.8% |
| Real estate activities (LZ) | 1,984 | 2,586 | 39.3% | 30.3% | 1,959 | 2,570 | 31.2% | 29.5% |
| Advisory & Business support activities (MN) | 6,379 | 7,784 | 21.5% | 22.0% | 6,541 | 7,859 | 20.1% | 23.2% |
| Education, human health and social work services, Arts, entertainment and recreation, Other service activities (P to S) | 5,311 | 5,894 | 10.2% | 11.0% | 5,457 | 5,850 | 7.2% | 10.1% |
| All firms (b) | 59,342 | 65,298 | 18.8% | 10.0% | 56,313 | 65,764 | 16.8% | 10.8% |
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available early January 2025: final for November 2024, provisional for December 2024.
Calculation: Banque de France - Companies Directorate - Companies Observatory.
Note: The corporate population is growing; according to INSEE, since 2021, more than a million businesses have been created every year.
a Aggregate number of corporate bankruptcies over previous 12 months compared to the same aggregate one year before and with the 2010-2019 mean.
b The line « All firms » includes legal units whose business sector is not known.
Calculation: Banque de France - Companies Directorate - Companies Observatory.
Note: The corporate population is growing; according to INSEE, since 2021, more than a million businesses have been created every year.
a Aggregate number of corporate bankruptcies over previous 12 months compared to the same aggregate one year before and with the 2010-2019 mean.
b The line « All firms » includes legal units whose business sector is not known.
B - Corporate bankruptcies by firm size![]()
Bankruptcies in number of legal units, year on year change (%)
| Aggregate over previous 12 months (a) (raw data) | ||||||||
| Mean 2010-2019 | Nov. 24 | Nov. 24/Nov. 23 | Nov. 24/2010-2019 | Dec. 23 | Dec. 24 prov. | Dec. 24/Dec. 23 | Dec. 24/2010-2019 | |
| Size | ||||||||
| SME, among them | 59,309 | 65,235 | 18.8% | 10.0% | 56,253 | 65,699 | 16.8% | 10.8% |
| Micro-enterprises and unknown firm's size | 56,055 | 59,919 | 18.3% | 6.9% | 51,889 | 60,355 | 16.3% | 7.7% |
| Very small firms | 2,011 | 3,307 | 23.6% | 64.4% | 2,769 | 3,319 | 19.9% | 65.0% |
| Small firms | 913 | 1,513 | 29.0% | 65.7% | 1,218 | 1,520 | 24.8% | 66.5% |
| Medium-size firms | 330 | 496 | 32.6% | 50.3% | 377 | 505 | 34.0% | 53.0% |
| ISE - Large Firms | 33 | 63 | 8.6% | 90.9% | 60 | 65 | 8.3% | 97.0% |
| All firms | 59,342 | 65,298 | 18.8% | 10.0% | 56,313 | 65,764 | 16.8% | 10.8% |
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available early January 2025: final for November 2024, provisional for December 2024.
Calculation: Banque de France - Companies Directorate - Companies Observatory.
a Aggregate number of corporate bankruptcies over previous 12 months compared to the same aggregate one year before and with the 2010-2019 mean.
Calculation: Banque de France - Companies Directorate - Companies Observatory.
a Aggregate number of corporate bankruptcies over previous 12 months compared to the same aggregate one year before and with the 2010-2019 mean.
C - Changes in corporate bankruptcies![]()
1 - Number of bankruptcies
Cumulated over previous 12 months
From Dec. 1991 to November 2024 (+ December 2024 provisional)
Cumulated over previous 12 months
From Dec. 1991 to November 2024 (+ December 2024 provisional)
Note: The orange line represents the average value of the number of corporate bankruptcies over twelve months observed monthly between January 2010 and December 2019.
2 - Change in number of bankruptcies
Annual year-on-year change
From Dec. 1991 to November 2024 (+ December 2024 provisional)
(in %)
Annual year-on-year change
From Dec. 1991 to November 2024 (+ December 2024 provisional)
(in %)
3 - Monthly number of bankruptcies
Mean 2010-2019 and From Jan. 2020 to November 2024 (+ December 2024 provisional)
Mean 2010-2019 and From Jan. 2020 to November 2024 (+ December 2024 provisional)
4 - Loan amounts of bankrupt non-financial firms over loan amount of all firms - by firm size
Cumulated over previous 12 months
From Dec. 2006 to November 2024 (+ December 2024 provisional)
(in %)
Cumulated over previous 12 months
From Dec. 2006 to November 2024 (+ December 2024 provisional)
(in %)
Note: the sharp rise in the weighting of outstanding loans in the Very small businesses category from April 2024 is due to a legal unit, classified in this category due to its small size. Without this legal unit, the weight of Very small businesses failures in terms of outstanding loans would be equal to 0.86%. For small businesses, the rise is due both to an increase in the number of bankruptcies and to an increase in the average loan outstanding. Over the month of November, it was further strengthened by the default of a small corporate with significant outstandings in this category.
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available early January 2025: final for November 2024, provisional for December 2024.
Download the PDF version of the document
EN_Stat_Info_Corporate_Bankruptcies_202412.pdf
Updated on the 16th of January 2025